Updated: BODY FOUND BETWEEN 160 AND BENTWATER SUBD. IN NIXA:

UPDATE AT BOTTOM:

About 11:30 a.m. police and a school resource officer were dispatched to an open field in Nixa to investigate the body of what appears to be a teenager found dead.

The body was found in a field near Highway 160 and Tracker Road, between the bowling alley and Bentwater Subdivision, by a man out walking his dog.

Chief of Police James Bacon, Detective Jason Hartsell, the resource officer and medical personnel are on the scene.

Newest update we have is that the body is that of a male between the ages of eighteen and twenty years of age who was shot. A rifle was found nearby according to sources.

UPDATE 12:23 p.m.:


Nixa Public Schools is confirming that they were notified by the Nixa Police Department that Logan Richardson, a 9th grade SCORE student, was found dead today.

SCORE is an alternative school in the Nixa .

Det. Jason Hartsell says the Christian County Sheriff's Department took a missing person report on Richardson on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010.

Hartsell says it appears that fatal shot appears to be self-inflicted. An autopsy is scheduled to for Wednesday.

"It's always heart-breaking to lose a student. Our condolences go out to the family and friends," said Dr. Stephen Kleinsmith, school superintendent in a news release.


Greg Brock and Kathee Baird are working the story and will file updates as they become available.